I'm Glad It Was You
by Little Miss Writing Prodigy
Summary: ONESHOT Ayumi thinks back on everything that happened in that cursed place, and she can't help but notice a certain someone's change in behavior when around her.


Ayumi Shinozaki had seen a lot in her life, she dared say she'd seen more than was socially acceptable.

A person was supposed to see a certain amount of corpses or deaths in their lifetime, some lucky people wouldn't even have to, but the young high school girl hadn't been that lucky. In fact, she'd surpassed her quota a long time ago.

 _Sachiko we beg of you._

Those five words had seemed so innocent at first, the idea behind it so _fun._ The charm promised that they'd be together forever after completing it, but that had all been a huge lie and you'd have to be naive to believe it to be true. Four people had lost their lives because of that cursed charm, four of their friends. The only way they could be 'together forever' now was if all of them met their demise.

Seiko, Morishige, Mayu, and Ms. Yui. All of them, gone.

 _Say it nine times, one for each one of us!_

Ayumi couldn't help but blame herself for all of this. Sure, she couldn't have known that this would happen due to Naho's tampering on her blog, but if she hadn't come up with the idea of that damned charm in the first place none of this would have happened.

The worst part of it all was that _no one_ remembered their fallen friends. Not even their family or friends had a clue about who they were talking about when they mentioned their names.

Naomi had told her that not even Yuu- Seiko's little brother -remembered his eccentric and somewhat perverted elder sister. He believed he'd never had a sister to begin with, which left him without a motherly figure too.

Such a thing was simply horrible, and it had all been because of Ayumi's interest in the occult.

And because of that, Naomi lost her best friend, Satoshi got injured badly, and poor little Yuka had been traumatized for life after having seen and experienced death so close by. Ayumi knew for a fact that the young girl's encounters with both Morishige- and especially Kizami -had shaken her quite a bit.

-Which just left Yoshiki, and Ayumi found herself getting a bit irritated because she couldn't read him. She knew for a fact that his hold on his sanity had been thin back then and that it had left quite an impact on him; that went for all of them.

The problem was, he didn't act like it.

While Satoshi had started being more cautious of his surroundings and Naomi had gotten a bit jumpy, he was just the same delinquent Yoshiki Kishinuma that she remembered. His behavior was almost indifferent, and she couldn't understand for the life of her how he did it. Even Ayumi herself had underwent a slight change of behavior, since she had minimized her connection to the occult as much as possible.

She still carried around her beloved scented candles though. No way would she get rid of those.

Still, his behavior confused Ayumi quite a bit. To be perfectly honest, she had expected him to be shaken up the most by all of this. He had been stuck with her, after all.

The fact that Ayumi needed to use both hands to count the amount of times she's been possessed scared her, a lot. Yoshiki had been around for the majority- if not all -of them, and he'd nearly gotten himself killed once or twice because of it, too.

It was no secret that she was sensitive to things like spirits or demons; her spiritual side had always been quite strong, hence why she was so interested in things like these.

And while being able to sense whenever a ghost was nearby could be useful at times (albeit a bit scary) it also qualified her as the best person to become a vessel for a ghost.

She'd never been aware of it when it happened, but from the stories Yoshiki told her, it had been a terrifying experience for sure. To Ayumi, being possessed felt similar to spacing out in the middle of doing something. She knew that she was saying something, but to her it just felt like nonsense. She only realized how sinister and crazed her words had been after she snapped out of it.

 _Please come back to me, Shinozaki._

Ayumi felt her cheeks heat up at the memory, especially when she started to remember the feeling of waking up to him pleading for her to come back while she was in his arms. She remembered how _warm_ he had felt and she couldn't help but miss the comforting feeling after she had instinctively pushed him away.

Incidentally, Satoshi hadn't been on her mind at all in that moment.

Ayumi wasn't stupid, she had taken note of the bleached blond's protectiveness when it came to her. He had been so _different_ from how she- from how _everyone_ at school knew him. He'd been caring and considerate, not even commenting on her randomly placing candles around the cursed school.

Who knows how many times he had put himself in harm's way just to make sure that she was safe? How many times he'd have to deal with her endless rambling on the many times she got possessed? Ayumi was certain that she wouldn't have been easy to handle, even when she wasn't possessed.

Most people would've given up on her before you could even say _Sachiko Shinozaki,_ but he had stayed with her through the end, and she was grateful for that.

In all honesty, she had brushed his change of behavior off as nothing special and that he was acting that way because of the circumstances they were in.

But then he never stopped doing it, even after they had returned home, even after months had passed.

Whenever Ayumi was in any type of trouble, Yoshiki would be the first to know and the first to be there; always quick to come to her aid.

And for the love of all that was holy, why would someone like _Yoshiki Kishinuma_ be so concerned about _her?_ He had absolutely no reason to-

 _Because I love you, Goddammit!_

Ayumi froze, her cheeks darkening even more and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she repeated those words over and over again.

No way, he couldn't actually have been serious when he said that, could he?

Of course not! After that, he hadn't shown any signs of loving her, not even acknowledging his confession at all!

A love confession...had he actually confessed to her? She never would've thought that someone like _Yoshiki_ would actually confess to someone, let alone _her._

But still, the longer she thought about it, the more logical it seemed. After all, why else would he be so sweet and protective towards her?

"Yo, Shinozaki!"

Ayumi jumped up in her seat at the familiar voice startling her out of her thoughts. She blinked twice, brows furrowing as she realized she was still in the classroom and what was she _doing_ there?

"Shinozaki? Are you okay?" The person waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention, voice sounding concerned and Ayumi realized that _damn it,_ she was spacing out again.

She looked up, only to find the man that had been occupying her thoughts a minute before standing right in front of her. She could feel her cheeks warning up, and from the confused expression on his face it wasn't just a light blush either.

"K-Kishinuma!" She exclaimed in surprise. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing," he answered coolly, despite his features still being contorted in concern. "Mochida left a while ago, so why are you still here?"

Only then did Ayumi notice the wet rag in her right hand and she blinked. Right, she and Satoshi had stayed behind to clean up the classroom. She faintly remembered telling him to go and find Naomi since he was supposed to walk her home that day and it was already getting late. He had protested at first, but she was persistent. There were only a couple of desks left to wipe down anyway.

She must've gotten lost in her thoughts sometime after that and had completely lost track of time. Still, that didn't explain Yoshiki's presence at all.

"I...was thinking about something," she admitted vaguely, not planning on telling him more than that. "But still, why _are_ you here? Did you come find me?"

Ayumi was sure that she was imagining it, but was he blushing?

"I-I was wandering around the school and grew curious when I saw Mochida and Nakashima leaving and you weren't there, that's all."

Such an obvious lie, but Ayumi didn't comment on it any further.

Her thoughts went back to his words and actions while in the school and she found herself getting up out of her chair to stand in front of him, hands clasped together and blush darkening. "Uhm... Kishinuma, I-"

She stopped, _refusing_ to look up at him, especially when she felt him getting closer. "I, uhm, back in the school-"

He tensed and she flinched, the memory bringing bad experiences for the both of them. In fact, Satoshi, Naomi, Yuka, Yoshiki and herself had all made a silent rule never to speak of that place. Heavenly Host Elementary School would forever be something of the past.

"Are you alright?" He asked again, and Ayumi nearly asked him if he was serious about his confession back then, but lost her courage at the last moment.

"You were with me and, and it could've been anyone else just as easily, but you actually _stayed_ with me even after the many times I...the many times I got possessed and-"

"Shinozaki, you're rambling." Oh, he was _definitely_ blushing now.

"W-what I'm trying to say is," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"I...I'm glad it was you."


End file.
